


Vampire Diaries

by wanttoflyhigh



Category: Tales of Phantasia
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, M/M, Romance, Vampires, a hint of a cameo and a lot of other hints of other things but u have to squint for them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 11:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3648261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanttoflyhigh/pseuds/wanttoflyhigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Throughout the land, it is the year 1670, and most of the land has become dried as well as a wasteland, making life difficult on the planet. However, added to that difficulty are the creatures which roam, seeking out occasionally the life of a human for sustenance. Although there are some who are different from them... what happens when they cross paths?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vampire Diaries

**Author's Note:**

> Well this is my last Phantasia fanfiction for a long while, since I'm working on another project right now and I have to wrap that up. As always, thanks for reading and dealing with my subpar writing skills, lol.

Amongst the vampires, there was one who could endure the sunlight easily under special circumstances...such as when there was a solar eclipse or if he wore a cloak. But he kept that to himself. His name is Cless.

 

Cless wasn’t anyone special or anything, considering by other more noble vampires or the such, but he was also one of the younger ones supposedly, which explained to them why he was often found not to mingle much with the rest. When he did, he found that their tastes or their opinions differed too much for him to wind up agreeing with them. He thought it was fine though, because there were things that they did which could be more brutal than he could see himself justifying doing unless there was a good reason. Still, there were expectations of him knowing where to place his allegiance and he understood those very well. So he went without questioning it and turning his head to dastardly deeds because it was all he ever knew.

 

He also became convinced that for vampires like himself it was the ‘right’ thing to do. So, he didn’t try to think about it too much and in a way, it was easier to do such a thing. At least, that’s what it was normal to think of someone in his position, right?

 

Then, Cless heard that recently after a vampire had all but wiped out some big town, leaving just one survivor. In conjunction with this news, he also heard that a vampire hunter had sworn vengeance on vampires and sought to bring the one who did it down. While obviously committing their life to one in the assurance that such an evil race be brought down by his own hand. Or so Cless had heard.

 

At first, the others did not consider him to be a serious threat and laughed him off.

 

Cless was just mainly curious though... and wanted to see a vampire hunter up front before the guy got ambushed by the undead. Or killed by one of his brethren. With that he finished up playing with his pet puppy and set off, going to the castle of one such vampire. He knew who did it because when it came to circles of undead vampires...no one practically never kept their mouths shut about who killed or who did what.

 

He could see why... they were superior to humans after all and so didn’t need to hide it. At the thought though, he’s appeared in the castle already and hiding behind a pillar to watch the show. When he appeared he saw that the man was already there and caused a mess. Below the floor he was standing it looked like a blond haired male was standing in the middle of a crater with skeleton bones and undead creatures’ remains strewn everywhere.

 

Cless couldn’t believe what he was seeing... and it wasn’t because it was due to the man’s power, but his grace. He conducted himself was such confidence and fearlessness that could only get the blond to stare after the man, who continued forward without a single bit of hesitation. The blond followed right after, practically mesmerized even though he saw only more of the man easily finished off the monsters with his bare fists... or more rather fists that had likely enchanted gauntlets upon them.

 

The long-haired blond stopped walking all of a sudden, however, and turned around, as if expecting something to jump out at him. Then he began to look upwards, which made Cless hide even more behind the pillar. He probably should be more careful, lest he be discovered and a fight broke out between them as a result. However, he continued to wait until he heard the man move further still.

 

Then Cless followed him slowly and quietly.

 

Until he accidentally tripped and fell on his cape, his hand hitting a vase that happened to hit the ground as well as break, in the process. He heard the blond haired human’s movements stop to a grinding halt. The blond-haired vampire paled, scrambled to his feet and leapt out a window, afraid he’d get caught, leaving a confused blond vampire hunter within.

 

Cless breathed a sigh of relief and shame. What was he thinking? Doing something so risky. Still... for some reason he didn’t regret it. He feels like that was more his impulse speaking rather than his rational side...which caused him to wait for the human when he was finished with business within.

 

...

 

The vampire saw that the human had emerged but looking like he had gone through one hell of a battle. Then, he watched carefully as the long haired blond seemed content to sit down. Maybe he was resting... but still to do so in the open implied that he didn’t intend to sleep. Right? He hovered a little closer.

 

The handsome blond man suddenly spoke up, saying, “You may as well come out. I can practically feel you staring at me. Have you been the one watching all this time or have you come to avenge your fallen comrade?”

 

“...”

 

Cless shook his head and floated up before hiding elsewhere while the vampire hunter still did not know where he was. Said vampire hunter sighed, not knowing what was even going on.

 

...

 

However, when the vampire hunter later started to get a move on Cless had decided to follow, even as light came upon the land. Cless quickly put up his cloak, and allowed the blond man to wander back into the ghost town. The vampire took it upon himself to explore a little, before finding himself in a backyard with withered flowers. It looked a little sad, so he began to tend to those too.

 

...

 

Dhaos had just finished avenging all of those in his town, before he set upon his home and walked right in. Needless to say that it was a relatively nice one and large -- that he kept up himself with a bit of effort. He had once been the Governor of this town and had lived in a now-destroyed villa before the vampire’s descent upon the poor place as well as it’s people. How did he survive?

 

The man had been out on official business and he was the only one able to combat demons or vampires of any type. He had thought to make sure that there was a barrier left in place, but it appears that the vampire purposely gathered enough forces that he’d have to have been there himself to stop the barrier from collapsing.

 

The blond sighs and closes his eyes, knowing nothing good will come of it if he dwells on it. What’s done is done.

 

...

 

For the next few days, a strange occurrence became a thing in this ghost town. Whenever Dhaos happened upon his door step after hunting down some vampires, he found that somehow someone had placed flowers at the front. He at first thought it was some vampire taunting him, but as the days went on, the amount of flowers grew and became enough of a nuisance that Dhaos just stuffed them into a pot and left them neatly outside. What he didn’t expect to find the day after was an identical pot to the one he put out on the opposite side of outside his front lawn of where he put the other pot... with more flowers in them.

 

He took a closer look. The flowers were freesia grandiflora, ones not grown indigenous to the area.

 

Dhaos rubbed his temples.

 

He decided the only way to stop this madness was to track down the one responsible for all of this. The town was luckily not that big and he still had most of the day about him, reserving his vampire hunting for tomorrow. The blond-haired vampire hunter found himself at a loss for once, for he looked all over town almost and that left just one place to check. He sighs to himself again, coming to the abandoned house of a couple who once attended to a garden that he knew was beyond disrepair as of this moment.

 

Imagine his surprise when he spots that the garden is filled to the brim with a variety of freesia. He wondered what sorcery was this, exactly? Especially since the flowers were glowing.

 

He decides that there is either some kind of mastermind plot being concocted or this was borne of some truly unnatural occurrence by nature. Although, the latter wouldn’t explain flowers showing up on his front doorstep.

 

Dhaos then steadfastly comes to the conclusion that if someone is involved in this they must visit this location in order to grab more flowers. This was also very silly, but he wanted it to stop. Especially if this was some other vampire mocking him.

 

He hears the sound of footsteps and a gasp and turns his head as the afternoon light has begun to flicker away from the land. There was a male in a red cloak, with the hood down, and he had blond hair with rather striking light brown eyes. It made Dhaos wonder if somehow someone had survived but he would’ve remember seeing this boy’s face around before. Besides, in his hands are some genus of freesia on hand.

 

Dhaos’ eyes narrowed and he asks, “Who are you and what is your purpose, lingering here after daylight?”

 

“I, um...er...I was just...”

 

Dhaos raised an eyebrow.

 

“You know, kinda...as in...er...”

 

The awkward moment stretched on longer than Dhaos could stomach handling before he glared at him. “...”

 

The boy then blushed and looked down, before a big puff of white smoke appeared in his place. Dhaos quickly ran over to see if he could somehow catch him before he left but it appeared that the other blond somehow used it to vanish. The vampire hunter sighed to himself before moving to sit down in front of this garden. He was already too tired of these shenanigans.

 

...

 

Cless in the meanwhile watched the man sit down, flying high above the house behind the man, and figuring it was way too risky to say what he was really doing when he was doing it purely on impulse. He was rather brash and reckless, doing things quickly without thinking, but this time it was different. He recognized what he did was kind of crazy, but he thought it had been harmless, even if the guy was so serious and hated all vampires.

 

The blond sighed. What was he even thinking? He was out of his mind if he thought he could get the other man to become friends with him. He quickly allowed himself to fly towards the house Dhaos lived in and sat on top. He knew the human couldn’t wait for him there forever so he’ll just go back in the morning with his cloak on.

 

Pulling up his hood, he thinks it’s a foolproof plan, and closes his eyes.

 

...

 

Cless wakes up when it’s late afternoon again and floats down, but that’s when he spots Dhaos in front of him in the next second. He stumbles back but the other blond forcibly grabs his right arm, causing the smaller blond to yell, “LET GO OF ME! You... you weirdo! What do you want with me?! I’m not going to let you do whatever you want!”

Dhaos was struck in surprise by the violent reaction as Cless suddenly struggled like hell before he tightened his grip and said, “You will come with me and answer all of my questions. Unless you want to end up like the one I just recently disposed of.”

 

Cless opened his mouth and closed it, finally stopped struggling. Although that was right before the vampire tugged forward, pulling the other man towards him. He didn’t think it through though and both of them wound up a heap on the floor. “And the reason for this is...what?”

 

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

 

...

 

The smaller blond seemed to cross his arms as he was brought into a room with a ton of enchantments and whatnot. Dhaos closed the door behind them, and Cless began to wander around soon enough, poking things here or there soon after. He hears the man ask, “Who are you and where is the next hideout for your kind?”

 

Cless smiled and said, “I’m Cless! Who are you?”

 

Dhaos glared. “... Do you believe this is some game?”

 

“Well no... but I don’t really know who you are.”

 

The taller blond gives him the name ‘Dhaos’ and urges him to go on. Then Cless grins sheepishly and says, “I’m not really sure if I should tell you that. You’ve killed the guy responsible for this mess, right? So... maybe we can just find a way to stop all these attacks instead and get along?”

 

The man actually laughs a little at that. “You have got to be joking, vampire. Either you are truly naive or trying to lure me into some kind of trap of a sense of false security. Why else would you be putting flowers outside my doorstep?”

 

Cless blushed at the question. “How do you know if that was me?! IT COULD’VE BEEN ANYONE!”

 

Okay, maybe not... but still...

 

Dhaos stares before sighing. “You’re not the brightest tool in the shed, are you.”

 

The blond-haired male in question blushes even more and shouts, “S-shut up! You don’t know anything, okay?!”

 

After that follows a long silence, as Cless looks to the side, face still flushed. He could feel Dhaos staring at him some more before he came closer to him, and this caught the smaller blond’s attention. He shifted awkwardly some more.

 

Cless then blurts out, “Alright, I’ll tell you! Just stop staring at me like that! And I have to come with you. If you’re going to know we’re going to do this on my terms and see if we can settle the whole thing without fighting.”

 

The smaller blond looked at Dhaos defiantly until he was sure the guy would give in. He had to. It was the only way he was going to get anything out of it! The resigned sigh told him that he’d won. Wait a minute, Cless had a great idea.

 

He could just lie to Dhaos and he’d be none the wiser! Haha, he’s so good at this. He hears Dhaos say, “Fine.”

 

Then before he realizes it, Dhaos has grabbed his right hand, before snapping a silver wrist band right onto his wrist. Cless makes a face. “The hell did you just do?!”

 

Dhaos states plainly, yet ominously, “Insurance. If you try to leave--”

 

Cless pulls a fist back and punches the other man in the face. “YOU BASTARD!”

 

...

 

Oh god why did he do that? Now what does he do? He just knocked out Dhaos. Now he knows the guy’s gonna be pissed! He should’ve just waited until the guy was done speaking. He picked up the limp man and kicked the door open that should’ve kept a vampire within, but hey, he’s more formidable than he looks! Then he made sure to find a room to deposit the unconscious vampire hunter in, and particularly on a bed.

 

Then he just waited.

 

...

 

Dhaos woke up, surprised to find that he was alive and not carved to ribbons or some other fate by that mysterious vampire. His surprise increases when he finds that there are flowers all covering his sheets and his mind hits an instant blank because of it. He spots that there are flowers on the floor in his room as well and pinches the bridge of his nose. What kind of vampire is he dealing with here?

 

Said vampire looked at him from across the room and said, “Er... sorry about that. I didn’t really mean to knock you out.”

 

Dhaos raised a hand to rub at his cheek where he was punched and he shook his head. “If you’re truly sorry, you will clean up this mess you’ve made of my room. I did not ask for this.”

Cless then said to him, huffing, and holding out his wrist, “I didn’t ask for this either!”

 

The vampire hunter facepalmed.

 

...

 

Cless did eventually end up beginning to lead him to where their strong hold was and heard him say, “Just pretend you’re my random human friend and it’ll be easier to sneak you through. Just, don’t say anything, and follow my lead. Otherwise they might get suspicious.”

 

Dhaos arched an eyebrow and asked, “And why do I have to be quiet?”

 

The blond haired vampire looked at him and said, “Because reasons, okay?”

 

Dhaos shook his head, stopping walking. “..... This plan is very tenuous at best. It could easily spell a disaster.”

 

The vampire hunter watched the other blond frown and reply, “No way! Besides, do you have a better plan?”

 

“As a matter of fact, I do. Vampires are weak to sunlight and thus they naturally are resting during the day. We strike then and have the advantage.”

 

Which would be the best plan, really. But no, Dhaos supposed it couldn’t be that easy because at that he saw the smaller male’s face scrunch up like he was irritated. “That’s stupid. I’m not leading an extermination brigade here just because you have a thing against my people!”

 

Dhaos replied simply, “Stop being sentimental and naive, this is truly the only way to lay to waste their infernal human-hunting campaigns.”

 

Cless replied in a shout, “What do you know?! You didn’t even try to talk to them before! Besides, my plan is the best option we have! You don’t know everything about the place and do you really honestly think the place’s going be unguarded completely even though the vampires will be asleep?!”

 

The vampire hunter rubbed his forehead. There was one good point he supposed and then he crossed his arms. “You’re right. I don’t know. Enlighten me.”

 

When Cless gave him the stink eye, Dhaos knew it was going to be a project. “I will if you admit my plan is the best one.”

 

Dhaos sighed and asked, “Why would I admit to something that is not true?”

 

The other blond huffed and replied, “Becauuuuuse it is?”

 

“No, it is not.”

 

“Yes it is.”

 

“No it is not.”

 

“Yes it is.”

 

Dhaos’ lips curled downwards as he turned on the heel of his foot, already looking to find a place to camp at the very least. He rubbed his cheek, noting it was still sore, and set up a quick barrier with some well-placed holy items before he settled down himself. Cless had his arms crossed and stood outside of it, and with that, the night ended. Dhaos was pretty sure that the other would be unable to do much of anything about it.

 

 

Or at least, he thought that would be the case, but when he woke up, he found himself bound in rope and his eyes narrowed, mind instantly going to that hapless-looking vampire. He knew he shouldn’t have trusted him, and at the thought, Dhaos begins to wonder.... what kind of vampire could truly have wandered around even when it was daylight? He had been too careless and distracted by that one’s nature that he hadn’t noticed that he likely had a formidable foe playing around with him.

 

Then he hears voices and turns his head to see that there are other people. Where he is appears to be in a dungeon cell and it is already dark once more... Dhaos’ eyebrows furrow at that. How had he been out so long? Was he truly that tired?

 

The people noticed he was awake and Dhaos heard one of them say, “Look, the pretty one’s up and about! Maybe he’ll notice we drugged him and if he’ll be feeling funny soon enough.”

 

Another one said, “No way, that’s not likely. He passed out as soon as we forced the stuff down his throat. The most he’ll get is a bit of short-term memory loss from that event. He doesn’t seem to be reacting like one of those monsters should be.”

 

Dhaos highly disapproved of their actions, although he could see why they’d be so skeptic. He quickly said, “As you can see, I am not a creature of the night. I ask that you release me, so I can be on my way.”

 

One of them, a brunette, steps closer and says, “Nah, we’ll wait a bit and see if anything happens. Besides, it’s funny to see someone like yourself wet your pants a little in suspense.”

 

The vampire hunter responded coolly, unphased, “Suspense from what, exactly?”

 

The third one in the group laughs and says, “Look at this guy, thinking he’s such a hot shot! Might as well rough him up a little and teach him a lesson, huh?”

 

At this the blond gives them an incredulous expression. “What are you thinking? Such a gesture would be meaningless, considering we’re all supposed to be on the same side!”

 

Then they just look at each other and laugh, as if what Dhaos said was ridiculous. The brunette proclaims, “We can’t be helped thinking that you could still be a shapeshifter or something. It’s too risky, so we’ll just beat you up and see how much you can take. That’s reasonable too, right?”

 

The blond gets a chill as they converge on him and is sour to note they also did double time in making sure his ankles were tied as well. His eyes scan the room and he thinks, of course, Cless wouldn’t be here... he probably went off somewhere else.

 

Why is he thinking of him now? Dhaos knew he was alone, he had always been ever since the town was destroyed, and he closed his eyes, blocking out whatever happened for the next few hours.

 

Those few hours passed and everything, everything was so painful on a physical level as well as mentally, but Dhaos wished he could’ve passed out. He could not believe these people were human, just like him, and he wondered what manner of creatures were they, in his state of pain. He keeps thinking of his people who lived and then, of that stupid boy.

 

Dhaos believes he is now completely delirious from the unsanctioned beating, because he is seeing that vampire, albeit through blurry, watery eyes, standing over those men. He feels himself being picked up, and everything is a haze--

 

\--lips against his neck--

 

\--warmth spreading through his entire body--

 

\--and then a comfortable darkness washing over him.

 

...

 

“Hngh...”

 

Cless turned to the man lying in his own bed, watching him with a smile on his lips, and as in the next moment the blond male instantly sat up in the bed with a loud gasp. The vampire blinked as he came closer to Dhaos panting, like he’d seen something horrific and he had to guess that he had seen a nightmare. The next moment, though, was like in a blur, because the still-recovering man tried to move out of his bed in what could be seen as a half-awake impulse manner.

 

The candle light in the room flickered, showing only one shadow having moved, as Cless possessed none of his own.

 

Cless moved to catch him when he nearly fell out. He heard the man uttered the words quickly, “K-Karion-- Karion, Winona, and the others are--”

 

The smaller blond frowned and asked, “Who are Karion, Winona, and ‘the others’?”

 

Dhaos then froze and then said nothing, before pushing Cless roughly away, a dark look coming over him. But he regrets it soon enough because the action causes him to wince, and Cless watches as the other blond looks down at himself being bandaged at the waist, with no shirt on. “Uh, yeah, you might not want to move around too much for a bit... they really did a number on you.”

 

Cless watched the man pull his blankets closer to him and Dhaos just frowned, turning his head away as he asked, “Where is my shirt? And my gauntlets, while we’re at it.”

 

The smaller blond happily chirped, “Well I went ahead and washed your shirt since it was kind of dripping in blood, so now it’s drying. Your gauntlets are in your drawer. Anything else?”

 

Dhaos nodded slowly and asked, “How am I still alive?”

 

Cless blushed a little and played with his two fingers, but didn’t say anything, incurring Dhaos’ suspicion, making his eyes narrow. “What did you do?”

 

“... Um... I might have had to kiss you, so....that’s what I did.”

 

At that, he watched the vampire hunter blink and raise a hand to touch his own lips as in a daze or maybe the shock of him saying that was almost unreal. He also saw his face color pink briefly.

 

Dhaos then frowned and gazed at Cless with skepticism, “You... kissed me. That’s all it took? Is there some other sort of fell magic involved? I am feeling rather ... strange.”

 

Cless smiled sheepishly at him. “Well, it’s the first time I used this kind of magic, so you might feel all cuddly and warm inside for a few days.”

 

He watched the vampire hunter pinch the bridge of his nose. “‘Cuddly and warm inside’, is it?”

 

Then the vampire said, “If it weren’t for this wrist thing I wouldn’t have found you so fast... but uh, sorry about leaving you for a bit. I didn’t think those humans would, you know...”

 

Just then, he saw a curious look come over Dhaos’ expression as he inquired, “Whatever happened to them, exactly?”

 

At the question, Cless himself felt strange as a foreign feeling washed over him-- no he recognized it. It was something akin to disgust, as he recalled exactly ‘whatever happened to them’.

 

Cless had found that on his little ‘walk’, the wrist band he had kept sending him small, annoying shocks, that made him grumble. So this is what this device did, he supposed and figured it was time to head back nearby to Dhaos’ side. But at the thought, he became stubborn and affronted about it. He had just had an argument with the human, so why should he give in to him now?!

 

And in doing so, he finds it takes himself awhile to return, although that there is no sign of the man as to where he was before. The wrist band merely seems to direct him in the right steps, and soon enough, Cless had found himself upon a warehouse of some sort. As he walked in, many were dozing off here or there, or at least unattentive to the point he just shook his head. When he enclosed nearby Dhaos’ location, that is when he caught the scent of blood... Dhaos’ blood.

 

He remembers entering the room, silent and undetected.

 

He vaguely remembers tearing those humans apart and rushing to Dhaos’ side. The man had weakly grasped at him after he unbound his hands, and the strained words, “... Make it quick...”

 

But he wouldn’t do that, he couldn’t. This man didn’t deserve that, and so he had leaned in to press his lips against--

 

Cless allowed for Dhaos to absorb what he just told him, before saying quietly, “I’ll let you rest some more. Try not to move around too much, okay?”

 

He moved to leave but before he did, he thought he might have heard the words uttered softly, “Thank you.”

 

...

 

The following weeks, Cless tried to take care of Dhaos as best as he could, since the man was recovering from near-death, and the simple fact that he knew that humans could be fragile. With a bit of his own magic, he also fixed up the villa so it could be a bit more hospitable, even though it was only the two of them, and his puppy, Chester.

 

He also learned that the human was kind of not a morning person, which was surprising, since he thought that all humans were morning people. He supposed one learned a new thing every day. He found this out though a few times when he went into Dhaos’ room to wake him up. It wasn’t too pretty.

 

Now Cless was attempting to cook something in the kitchen and of course the proper way to do so was of the use of gratuitous magic. So he went into Dhaos’ room when he was done and there was the blond, practically still well asleep.

 

Cless put the plate on the table nearby his bed before jumping onto Dhaos’ bed a couple of times to wake up the sleeping man. The next moment, he found a pillow hit him smack in the middle of his face, and he yelled, “Cless down, Cless down!”

 

 

 

Dhaos, in the meanwhile, sat up, blearily, looking at Cless. He then threw another pillow at him before plopping right down, sighing to himself. “This is way too early for this nonsense. Why must you always act like such a child?”

 

Then, Cless pops up in his face, with a smile, saying, “It’s already way into the morning and I cooked you some breakfast, won’t you eat?”

 

He’s not surprised to be eyed wearily, and the other blond to say, “Knowing a vampire cooked it... still makes me hesitant.”

 

Cless is holding the plate in front of the vampire hunter’s face soon enough and said, “Come on, it’s totally safe! I know how to make bacon and eggs, okay?”

 

“Out of thin air, more like...”

 

“Come on, stop being so sour and eat!”

 

Dhaos blinked a few times and said plainly, still half-asleep, “If you feed me yourself, I’ll eat it.”

 

Cless grinned and poked an egg with a fork before holding it near Dhaos’ face; the vampire heard the dreaded words,“... I did not mean it.”

 

The smaller blond then decided to do the Pout, and Dhaos sighed, because if he didn’t give in soon the Pout would become the Whining. Plus, the food probably wouldn’t kill him... maybe. He decides to indulge himself a little after taking the fork to eat it. He found that it wasn’t all that bad, and he saw Cless staring at him. It was when he realized that the other was practically on top of him, and Dhaos swallowed... the food as well. He frowned, and wondered if the other blond realized the implications of their positioning.

 

He figured not, if Cless was smiling at him now, and Dhaos leaned in forward to try to make a point. He smirked to himself when it made Cless flail and fall off of the bed. Then he said lightly, “...It tastes alright.”

 

“O-oh... okay. I’m glad you like it!”

 

...

 

Dhaos had explained to Cless that they would need to ‘move on’ and that the blond vampire hunter had a few associates he wished to meet up so perhaps they could form a type of alliance to make things easier. To Dhaos’ surprise, however, Cless readily agreed to this type of deal, although not to his surprise, the vampire had stated that they would attempt to ‘talk it out’ first when dealing with other vampires. Which he supposed in the end was good enough.

 

The meet was to be in another town and of course at one of the remaining hotels in this land. Before they arrive, Cless and Dhaos are sitting, in front of a table, playing a game of cards. Both are staring intensely at their hands, and Dhaos looks over at Cless, before reaching over for a card. The smaller blond makes an upset look when Dhaos’ hand hovers over a card, and this causes the vampire hunter to think, Either he is bad at poker or really good at bluffing. Hmm.

 

When Dhaos’ hand moves to another card, Cless looks relieved and the vampire hunter is pretty damn sure he’s acting. So he takes the card...

 

Joker.

 

Dhaos sighs loudly while Cless laughs. “I can’t believe you picked that one! I thought it was obvious I was relieved about your potential pick! Or maybe it’s just bad luck on your end...”

 

Dhaos just stares intensely at the blond, saying, “I thought it was a trick, perhaps.”

 

Cless blinked, wondering what he did wrong. He was sure he was playing it right. “What do you mean? Don’t you just pick out cards from each other’s hands and give a hint to which ones you want them to pick? So I just made it more obvious.”

 

For the next few hours Dhaos refuses to speak to him, and Cless doesn’t understand why. Maybe it’s because he got the joker-- little does he know it’s because Dhaos believes the vampire is making a fool of him.

 

In the meanwhile when they wait, Cless tries to make Dhaos laugh by making funny faces at him and the taller blond has to look away, before he is tempted to say something. Naturally this makes the smaller blond try even more and as he leaned over the table, his hand accidentally went to lie upon one of Dhaos’. It made the latter of the two look at him, and Cless immediately smiled at him, before he blushed.

 

He said quietly, “Whoops...”

 

Dhaos stared at him, and Cless felt himself begin to sweat like he had gotten his hand caught in the cookie jar. Then, the older man moved away from him, and the young vampire felt his embarrassment catch up further with him. _Well, I probably just made everything awkward..._

 

Cless rose to his feet, too quickly, and his chair fell over. He almost fell over too, if Dhaos didn’t catch him, and right him. He thanks him with a quick hug that makes the other blond freeze and lightly just pat his back. Then he realizes the two of them are staring each other for awhile following that.

 

He decides this time he wants to kiss Dhaos when he has his wits in tact. He stands on the tips of his toes, to plant a kiss against his cheek, and he could hear an almost too-quiet surprise intake of air from the other man.

 

“.........”

 

The blond smiled a little shyly at Dhaos, and turned to move. He felt arms wrap around his waist and the taller man uttered a few words nearby his ear. Then, the words, “... I do not think this is wise. It could land us into a serious predicament.”

 

Cless rested his hands on the other man’s shoulders, as he said, “I’m okay with us just being friends, then. I don’t want you to get hurt. Besides, all I want is to be by your side anyway...”

 

Then, he hugged him, before hearing a quiet, ‘hmm’ from the other blond. It made the vampire look up, only for lips to meet his own, much to his surprise. Cless was eager to return the gesture, now, face burning red, as his fingers gripped Dhaos tighter. The older man easily allowed the kiss to continue, before he deepened it enough that the younger male had his eyes closed tight, holding onto Dhaos with a death grip.

 

Then, as a bit of saliva slipped down the side of his lip, his hands begun to wander blindly over Dhaos’ body, before he pulled away, panting heavily, looking dazed, and flushed red.

 

Dhaos himself had to catch his breath, his cheeks colored a heavy pink, and then as if by the grace the door opened to the room they were in. Quickly Cless had pulled over his hood, even pulling a scarf up to cover his mouth, and moved to stand behind Dhaos, as the taller blond looked over at the new occupants of the room. It seems that his old associates had arrived... or at least he thought so until he noticed he could scarcely recognize any of the faces who had showed.

 

But by their wear, he could tell that they were exorcists and the like. Dhaos asked coolly, “I suppose the rest are no longer with us?”

 

He received a nod and then a question, “You have a companion?”

 

Dhaos nodded and replied, “This one... quite shy, however. Try not to harm them or say anything untoward to either of us and we should get along fine.”

 

The one who continued to speak seemed alright with this, before he said, “That’s agreeable enough. You can call me Brambert, if you have no memory of us meeting, and this is probably hardly the group you remember, but we make due with what we have. With that said, there are some things I must discuss with you in private, Dhaos. I trust our friends will be fine in each other’s presences?”

 

The blond-haired vampire hunter raised a hand to rub his neck and then replied, “It should be fine.”

 

Cless felt nervous when Dhaos and the blue-haired man left. His brown irises flickered over to the group, who came over, presumably to speak with him, and one of them said, “There’s no need to be so shy.”

 

Another one, another blond said, “Yeah. Speaking of which, how much do you guys bet this one is a girl? Quiet and shy?”

 

The vampire frowned and then one of them went to put an arm around his shoulders. “Yeah. We can become really cozy spending some time together, right?”

 

Cless quietly grabbed the arm and guided it away from himself. This caused the rest to laugh at the one and a red head said, “Looks like they’re asking for personal space instead. We’ll probably all warm up sooner or later, right?”

 

As the others went away, the red head approached him and he said, “Sorry about them. They can be quite a handful. Let’s try to get along, alright?”

 

The blond smiled behind the scarf as he saw the hand raised in front of him to shake, and so he took it. When he did, he felt a sudden shock run through him, and quickly removed his hand. He noticed it had been burned and slowly he gulped, looking up at the vampire hunter, whose eyes narrowed in suspicion.

 

Luckily, Brambert and Dhaos had returned just then, the latter of which noticing Cless rubbing his hand, pulled him aside to inquire quietly, “What happened?”

 

Before Cless could respond, the taller man was gripping his burned hand, looking at it and frowning, as he asked less quietly, “Who did this?”

 

He muttered, “It was an accident, I think someone just had their glove blessed or something...”

 

“... Hn.”

 

Cless smiled lightly at him and said, “I’m okay, Dhaos. It won’t kill me.”

 

“...”

 

The vampire decided to nudge him playfully, making the other blond sigh and nod his assent before he whispered, “You need to be careful.”

 

Cless grinned sheepishly. “Don’t worry, what’s the worst that can happen?”

 

Then Brambert began to speak at that moment before Dhaos could say anymore, “Tonight, we strike at one of their castles tonight. It will be another dangerous operation, but the town has offered us sufficient payment in return. We will rest up in the hotel before tomorrow. Any concerns?”

 

Cless was afraid someone would say something, but this was not the case. He breathes a sigh of relief. After that he says to Brambert quietly, “You know, you kind of look like a friend I know...”

 

Brambert raised an eyebrow before smiling slightly, saying, “Really now?”

 

...

 

When the blond-haired vampire wakes up he’s not pleased to be told that somehow Dhaos has managed to get out of bed early, along with Brambert and most of his entourage to go to do the operation. He hadn’t have known where the castle was and Dhaos had made sure to remove that gray wrist band... that jerk, why did he leave him here?!

 

Cless huffed and stomped around. “What was he thinking?! I don’t want to be here with...”

 

His door opened, revealing the red head from yesterday, who asked, “...other humans?”

 

The blond sweatdropped and said, smiling sheepishly, “Well, about that... er... I can explain! It’s not what it looked like! My hands just... kind of... got an ugly rash, suddenly!”

 

Cless was given the look that said ‘that didn’t totally sound like you pulled that out of your ass and failed making it work right now’ with the sarcasm tone. The red head said, “Next time you should do a better job at lying.”

 

Then the blond got red in the face and shouted, “WHAT ARE YOU, MY MOM?! LOOK I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG! I don’t go around hurting people, okay?! So, please... don’t do anything or tell anyone else. Please!”

 

The man sighed and shook his head. “Alright... Cless Alvein, right? If you’re going to be stuck here with us, help us do some rounds, since some of us are here to watch the town. I just finished mine, so I’m going to nap.”

 

Cless nodded with a smile, and left the room. He paused, when he thought he heard something like footsteps scampering away, but figured it was just mice. He made sure his hood was still up and everything, before he went outside.

 

When he did, he noticed that there were hardly any people outside, except a few of the vampire hunters. He strayed away from them when he noticed a few leering gazes from those ones. He decided that when Dhaos and Brambert get back he should probably make them flowers for when they returned.

 

He smiled to himself and quickly went to the outskirts before looking around, and when he was sure he wasn’t being watched, produced flowers in his hand from out of nowhere. He hears someone say, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

 

Cless quickly puts the flowers behind his back and says quietly when he turns around, “Er...collecting...foliage?”

 

He noticed it was a few of the vampire hunters. One of them shakes their heads and gestures back to the village. “We don’t want a lady like yourself getting hurt, so why don’t you head back into the inn?”

 

The blond wants to protest but he decides not to do so, moving past them.

 

A hand grabs his hood and tears it off, making him stop, dropping his flowers. He whips around, eyes narrowed in a glare. One of them asks, “Another elf? Lord knows we have too many of those folk in our group.”

 

Cless glares hotly at them before stomping off. Humans can be so damn rude, he swears. He made a turn around a corner before finding himself slammed up against a wall. He turned his head, shouting, “Hey, what gives?!”

 

They were laughing at him as the one who had performed the action against Cless stepped back, and he snapped at them, “For what it’s worth, you need to stop treating me like trash. Brambert’s going to be pissed if he finds out you’re all screwing around instead of patrolling!”

 

One of them says, “Aw look, the little one might be a boy after all. Maybe he should prove it.”

 

A hand grabs his arm when he turns away, and he’s had enough. He pulls a fist back and hits one of them square in the face. But he forgets that he’s stronger than a human and it breaks his nose as well as the other person’s jaw, making them scream on the floor.

 

The next moment is like a heartbeat, because Cless is screaming in pain, before blood is sliding down from his lips because he’s been stabbed, no, run through, more than once--

 

 

He falls to the ground.

 

The red-haired vampire hunter steps out, and his eyes widen.

 

 

...

 

Dhaos listened to the laughing, dying gloats of a creature of the night. Honestly, whyever some of them were full of themselves, he would never know. At the very least, however, the deed was done and he looked over at Brambert, who, along with a few others nodded. They began to make their trek back, before he saw that there was a dog that ran up to him and whined. At that moment, he feels a line of pain run through his head, and he doesn’t know why, but he recognizes that dog as being that mutt Cless insisted on bringing along.

 

He rushed forward, much to the confusion of his companions, but they followed. Either way, when he arrived, he didn’t expect to see Cless in a pool of blood, with a red head yelling at the rest of the others. He runs over to Cless and quickly extracts the stakes from his chest, and he grips his shoulders, before searching all over him. There’s s too much blood, there’s too much, and he’s not breathing--

 

He hearts Brambert say, “Dhaos, I’m sorry, but... there’s no way he couldn’t have survived that.”

 

Dhaos blinks, before shifting Cless into his arms and holding him close. He didn’t feel anything, or feel the need to say anything, since two others were saying it for him. He walked back into the inn with him, to at least clean up the young blond’s body. It’s strange, he didn’t know him for very long, but...

 

Time passes and at least the smaller blond looks presentable when Dhaos is done. But now that it is so, he can feel his hands begin to shake and his eyes watering. The puppy begins to whine and nudge at Dhaos’ leg.

 

“H-Hey, Dhaos, why the long face?”

 

Cless’ voice reached his ears, all cracked and after Dhaos had just settled him on a bed. When he looks at Cless, he finds red eyes staring up into his, and he’s pale as a ghost. Dhaos is too shocked to say anything, but then Cless’ hand goes to rest on one of Dhaos’ before he sat up, saying, “You s-seemed shocked. I look almost the same besides the red eyes, every vampire that’s like me has them. I just use magic to hide it.”

 

Dhaos frowned and gently moved Cless back down into a lying down position, probably still having trouble to form words that this is reality. He vaguely notices that his partner is trembling, however, and before he says anything, the boy has started to cry a little. He says, “I-It hurts, Dhaos... I can barely stand it. My body is in a lot of pain right now, but I can’t sleep. E-er, I...if you hadn’t pulled out those stakes when you did, I’d really be a goner.”

 

“...”

 

The blond-haired vampire hunter offered his hand, and he isn’t surprised to get a confused look from the smaller blond. He then states calmly, “Given your state of being as you are now, it isn’t abnormal to believe that some extraordinary measures should be taken.”

 

Cless looked up at his hand, which was conspicuously missing the glove Dhaos usually had it adorned, and that his sleeve was rolled up. He said to Dhaos, weakly, “Ah...no...I can’t...”

 

Then, Cless passed out, making the blond vampire hunter sigh. But he could tell the man was still alive, so that was better than nothing. Most definitely better, and maybe he could go to ‘address’ his concerns about the event that happened. With that, Dhaos made sure the blanket was covering him, before heading downstairs.

 

He found the lot of them converged in the first floor. They looked like they had someone cuss them out and really, even if they did, Dhaos couldn’t care less. He’s walking to one of them before stopping and asking coldly, “Was that truly necessary?”

 

The one he’s speaking to replies, “Well, he’s a vampire and we’re vampire hunters. You’re the one who should know better, right? Just let it go.”

 

If there was something the blond-haired vampire hunter prided himself in, it was staying calm in no matter the situation. It was something he’s learned to do in order to excel in his own job and to protect those innocent, from the harm of the creatures of the night. Yet, this was so backwards, considering, and Dhaos cannot remember meeting such disposable wastes of human lives earlier on when his town was still standing. It was still rather jarring to him, and therefore he was swimming in emotions, even if he simply learnt to internalize it all.

 

It was pissing him off.

 

The man seemed to notice Dhaos not responding, and smirked, saying, “Besides, we took out the trash.”

 

“...”

 

 

Dhaos held the man by his collar in the next moment, easily lifting him off of his feet, before he slammed him into the wall. The man said, strained, “You’re not saying anything because it’s true, isn’t it?”

 

Then Dhaos pulled his fist back and punched the man hard enough a few times that he cried for his friends to help. The others rush in and since he’s human try to physically tackle him, only for Dhaos to toss their hapless friend in the way. So instead they’re on top of the one guy, who is shouting as they’re in a pile, “What the hell are you guys doing?!”

 

The blond-haired man slammed his foot down on top of the pile, making one of them groan and Dhaos said darkly, “You’re all fools. It’s a wonder how you have managed to survive this long... perhaps only because of the so-called leader of your group. Either way, I’ve decided I’ve hardly have any needs for the likes of you. Luckily, I don’t like to spill the blood of those who are the same as I, so you have been spared. I could have easily killed either of you a number of times, but of course, as merciful as I was, I didn’t.

 

It’s obvious the only way you know how to fight is to backstab someone who is caught unawares, let alone is not too aggressive regularly, unless he’s provoked. If I see any of you again causing trouble, I will not hesitate to send you to the Grim Reaper. Clean up your act. It’s embarrassing and disgusting.

 

That is all.”

 

Dhaos then moved on, before noticing Brambert standing there with his arms crossed. The blue-haired man asked, “Well, isn’t this a surprise?”

 

“...”

 

“You made quite a nice pile.”

 

“... Thank you.”

 

The others cried, “How could you say that, Lord Brambert?!”

 

Then, the blue-haired elf asked Dhaos, “Is he...”

 

The blond-haired man shook his head, muttering, “It’s a miracle, but he’s alive. I’m surprised you’re even concerned, considering everything.”

 

Brambert seemed to be thinking of something before he leaned forward, to whisper something that surprised Dhaos. Then, he was off, bidding Dhaos ‘good luck’.

 

...

 

The next day, Cless was able to walk on his feet, and both of them knew that they should leave for the best. So, they moved on, hoping to find the next town soon, and luckily, Dhaos had a map on him of course. He decided to have them head towards a more mountainous area, towards a town called ‘Aturia’. It apparently had one of the most powerful strongholds against vampires, although during this, he looked over at Cless and asked, “Are you sure you wish to travel with me as I am? While I am sure you can hold your own in battle, if you’re caught this time...”

 

Cless shook his head. “It’ll be fine. Besides, I’ll just not ... react at all. Um, and try to hold back, and wait if they hit me first. The first time was my fault after all, I guess, I-I--”

 

Dhaos interrupted, “--Was it really? There is no sense in blaming yourself for that, even if it could’ve been avoided. I surmise they provoked you by words, or their actions. Which I didn’t even bother to ask, however...I shall now. What did they say or do to you?”

 

 

Cless looked down, feeling his face color with humiliation. He didn’t want to say, he didn’t want Dhaos to say ‘oh is that all?’ or maybe that was the anxiety talking. Those were such easy, ignorable things after all, right? There really is no excuse and instead he stood there silently, before his face felt like it was on fire because he didn’t know how to say what happened. He loathed being pushed around...no, it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all!

 

Cless begins to think, I should’ve just...

 

He felt a hand on his shoulder and the words, “Cless--”

 

Cless blurted out, “They... they wouldn’t shut up, okay?! They kept saying things, and I didn’t want to hurt them, but then they kept pushing me around even with their hands--I couldn’t take it!”

 

Dhaos leaned in to kiss his forehead, making Cless blush with a different kind of embarrassment and grin sheepishly. The smaller blond stood on the tips of his toes to kiss the taller blond’s cheek, who asked, “... Better?”

 

Then Dhaos found himself tackled to the ground by the blond. “Oof!”

 

The tall blond sighed as the smaller one rubbed his face against his chest. “Yes, much better!”

 

...

 

The next place was rather more or less crowded with people willingly out and about in this place than the other one they had been to. Cless, of course, was rather curious, but had the foresight to grab himself another cloak so he could hide his face among the crowds. Dhaos and him inquired around, the tall blond looking for a certain woman in town that he has also heard could be quite instrumental in taking out the resident vampire. The first person they asked had immediately pointed them in the direction of the church.

 

Dhaos blinked slowly and looked at Cless, who said, “I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

Instead, the blond-haired vampire found himself in a hotel lobby, pouting and stomping around. “What do you mean he can’t take no for an answer?! I can handle it, I can handle anything! Who does he think he is?!”

 

Cless began to march out of the hotel, before a blinding pain ran through him. Okay, maybe not. Maybe Dhaos had had a point back there...

 

_Dhaos frowned and his eyes narrowed, before he pulled Cless to a quieter location. “Absolutely not. I have no doubt you have resistance to some... things than others of your kind, but you should be resting before we set out. You’ve had only one day of rest and I doubt you could recover from something like that in one day.”_

_Cless had begun to protest, saying, “But--!”_

_The blond-haired vampire hunter said sharply, “But nothing. I will not take anything else for an answer. Do you understand me?”_

_The smaller male gave him a look, and a stubborn glare, only for Dhaos to return it. Both of them looked at each other for a few more minutes before Dhaos reached out to grab his shoulders. “... I’m only trying to help. You need to listen to me for once. Is that so hard for you to understand? Do you think I want to leave you alone in a town like this?”_

_Cless had sighed. “Fine...but...I don’t trust other humans. I don’t want them doing anything weird to you again.”_

_Dhaos released a sigh of relief. “I shall be fine. I doubt any trouble will come of these ones in particular. Trust me on this.”_

_“Alright, alright.”_

 

Cless huffed before going upstairs to the room Dhaos procured for him, and plopped on the bed, before closing his eyes.

 

A flash runs through his eyes. He feels the pain still, and he can’t sleep for now. He feels a craving run through him, if he had a human’s blood, he could...

 

Red eyes snapped open and Cless sighed, turning in bed. Maybe he should’ve taken Dhaos’ offer earlier.

 

No. He couldn’t. If he did, he’d regret it.

 

 

“I guess I’m lucky you have that human watching over you, huh? You would’ve done something reckless again.”

 

Cless looked up to see a familiar blue-haired male. He sighs to himself. “Yeah, I guess...”

 

“You should just leave him, however. I know why you came with him, but it’s not really worth it. You’ll get hurt.”

 

The blond frowned and tossed a pillow into the other male’s face. “I can take care of myself just fine, thanks!”

 

The blue-haired male came over to pat Cless’ head. “I don’t doubt it, but I don’t want anything to happen like that again. I wanted to kill those humans, but I doubt it would’ve done much good.”

 

Cless sighed and said, “If you’re that worried, help me fall asleep.”

 

“Sure, I’ll sing you ode to joy.”

“No!!”

 

...

 

 

The woman turned to look at Dhaos, a severe expression on her face as she regarded him closely. She easily concluded he wasn’t from the area, although the fact that he walked into the church as he was meant he was either really a human or a Dhampir. The woman asked, “Can I help you? I heard you were asking for me...?”

 

Dhaos nodded, and said, “I have heard that a powerful vampire lives nearby this locale and you have had difficulty with him.”

 

The woman nodded and replied, “Um...Yes, well, actually... there is the one and there’s a second one, but the first one is more dangerous on the account of the fact that he doesn’t pull any parlor tricks in town.”

 

The blond-haired vampire hunter raised an eyebrow and asked, “Parlor...tricks?”

 

The blond-haired woman sighed and said, “Ah... well you probably don’t want to even know. She can be kind of difficult, in a different sense. But our focus right now is on the other one. About ten or so vampire hunters have tried but they haven’t been able to defeat him.

 

Luckily, I’m very skilled with holy magic, so when I feel his presence I can put in repel him-- sadly it’s not enough to kill him, however.”

 

She paused and then asked him, “... Ah, am I to assume you have some capability?”

 

Dhaos nodded. “That I do, along with a partner of mine.”

 

At this the woman nodded, seeming as if she was thinking about something, and then said, “We set out tomorrow. The librarian should have some information on our enemy, given our books there-- I’m going to reread some myself. Oh... and ah, excuse his attitude. He can be a little bit abrasive.”

 

Dhaos nodded silently, before they headed out.

 

...

 

 

 

When he approached the library, he found that there was a certain man with green hair waiting for them. He asked, “And who is... this you brought along with you, Lady Mint?”

 

Mint said, “Well, he is going to help us defeat that vampire, once and for all.”

 

The man looked up from his pile of books and adjusted his glasses. “Orrrrrr become fodder for the vampire’s rampaging in his own castle, like all of the others.”

 

The blond-haired vampire hunter frowned and said, “You waste your breath speaking only of what-ifs ....... “

 

The rest of Dhaos’ speaking was trailed off since the other man was mouthing his words as if said out loud, making the blond’s eyes narrow. Mint frowned and said, “Reisen, please. Stop it. We don’t have time for this, just show us to the proper aisle.”

 

So he does, leaving the both as they are soon after and after Dhaos goes through a few of the books he has found some points of interest. One, that it appeared that this vampire had a resistance against stakes, garlic, and holy water. He supposed that he would be pretty effective for this, then. The other standard weaknesses for a vampire were noted...

 

But he wondered how it was that this vampire still lived. Mint soon bids him a good night as it was getting too late for her, and he wanted to find out what exactly kept the guy on his feet, but none of the books seemed to elucidate any further. Yet, Dhaos knew that there was a puzzle missing in the heart of all of this.

 

At the thought, the librarian approached Dhaos and said plainly, “You’re never going to defeat him, you know.”

 

Blue eyes flickered up to look at those dark red irises. The blond raised an eyebrow and then replied sarcastically, “Helpful words from another vampire, I see.”

 

“I’m not a vampire, I’m a half-elf. We just look similar.”

 

Dhaos said simply, “Perhaps you were a half-elf at one point in time. But I can tell you’re one no longer.”

 

Reisen scowled. “So what are you going to do? Kill me?”

 

The blond shook his head. “If I had met you months earlier, I may have chosen that course of action. As it is now...likely not. You don’t seem much too interested in going after humans anyway, seeing your current state could be remedied with a liberal drinking of some human’s blood.

 

But, if you wish to convince me further, perhaps you can extrapolate on how exactly he remains to be so invincible. You seem to know something.”

 

The green-haired man replied, “I do. He has a gathering of other vampires in his abode, making it difficult to reach him. He simply recruits other vampires to assist him, so he has good backing when a myriad of humans come. You may as well turn back now.”

 

Dhaos shook his head and stood to his feet, before asking, “How about you? Are you with him? Since you do seem rather so sure of his victory.”

 

Reisen looked agitated. “How dare you accuse me?! You fool, why don’t you just leave?!”

 

Then the man slipped on a book and fell flat on his face. It made the blond shake his head, having a hard time taking him seriously and move on.

 

...

 

Dhaos arrived to the hotel soon enough, checking in, and making sure to check in on Cless. He had been out for awhile, so he wouldn’t be surprised if the male had actually woken up, but instead the blond finds that Cless is still asleep or it seems like it. The vampire hunter encloses on the sleeping vampire and moves his hand to gently stroke at the smaller blond’s hair. He watches as a smile comes across Cless’ face, and he parts his lips into a smile of his own.

 

Then, the taller blond is about to draw away, when brown irises open and a hand moves to rest upon Dhaos’. Then he tugs him lightly to come closer. “Dhaos... let’s be together for tonight.”

 

Cless blushed and watched as Dhaos’ face turned pink in the moonlight.

 

“...”

 

An air of silence hung between them, before:

 

“...The puppy.”

 

Cless tilted his head as he asked, “Huh?”

 

Dhaos cleared his throat but continued, saying, “... I am not sleeping in the same bed as that dog of yours.”

 

“Oh come oooon!”

 

...

 

They set out in the noon day, because it provided a good amount of rest for both parties. Cless had his hood up, of course, and made sure to stick close to Dhaos as they waded through the crowds, until they ended up on the outskirts of town. There was Mint, along with another cloaked figure, who walked over to Cless and handed him a sword. Said cloaked figure smirked and said, “So I heard that Dhaos had a competent and very ‘special’ partner... so I thought I could assist our heroes in their journey. Pity I can’t journey with you to a possibly hopeless battle, but last time I resiste-- er fought against him he gave me no quarter.”

 

Cless took the sword and smiled, before said cloaked figure took Cless’ hand and kissed it. “For you, madame.”

 

The blond haired vampire blushed red. “H-hey! I’m not--”

 

Dhaos whacked the figure over the head a few times before guiding Cless away from him. “...Do not mind him. He’s full of himself...Cless.”

 

“W-well, if you say so.”

 

“HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!?”

 

Mint sighed to herself before smiling slightly for the first time in awhile. It’s been rather difficult lately, but she sort of hoped that these two would prove to be a boon to the town and be the key to the defeat of that awful creature. At the thought, she saw that within a few more hours, that they had arrived within the palace.

 

As expected, the enemy came upon them in droves, although likely hadn’t expected to be holy blasted, punched, or sliced into oblivion. This seemed to drive away the rest of the remaining stragglers on the first floor, making Cless put his hands on his hips and declare proudly, “Looks like they’re giving up already!”

 

Dhaos frowned and said, “Do not let your guard down. They’re likely contemplating another effective way to attack us. Since we have someone who can provide us with a holy shield, it will make it difficult for them to breach it to reach us.”

 

Cless blinked before rubbing the back of his head and grinning sheepishly. “Well, that’s a lot of stuff I don’t think I was thinking about.”

 

The other blond-haired male face-palmed and Mint sweatdropped as she said, “Cless...please be more careful.”

 

The group continued along, heading deeper in and finding that no one dared to attack them at this point. Which also incurred suspicion, naturally enough. It was enough to have Cless on edge himself, especially when he said, “...They’re all just...watching us.”

 

Mint looked down and replied, “Likely waiting for our guard to be down...”

 

The both of them snapped out of their thoughts when they all stopped in front of two large doors connected to each other. The three of them pushed and it opened.

 

It was a dimly-lit room, akin to that of some kind of decrepit throne room in terms of style, and thereupon them entering, they saw that there was a man with long blond hair who stood behind an injured blue-haired elf.

 

 

Behind the tall window glass, one could see it was a full moon, and a howl of a wolf in the distance. The man said, “You’ve come just in time to watch me kill him. Or if you want to let him live, you could just leave. He’s quite lucky I’d say, if he were a virgin, he’d have been dead way earlier.”

 

Afterwards, Brambert scoffed, saying, “This will never work.”

 

“I’ve bound your magic, elf, you have nowhere to run. These fools are just like any humans...”

 

The vampire seemed to pause when his eyes landed on Cless, who looked up at him. He smirked. “Or should I say two.”

 

Cless shouted, “Your plan will never work! If you’re going to continue to do evil things, I don’t care who or what you are, you need to be stopped!”

 

Dhaos just assumed a fighting position, and the vampire the group was against simply kept his eyes on the vampire in their group. In the next moment, Cless heard the words in his head, _Why are you fighting with them? Come, and join me, my fellow kin. We could be unstoppable! I can see it within you anyway, the hunger, and soon it will consume you._

 

Cless yelled, “Shut up! Get out of my head!”

 

Dhaos’ eyes narrowed, and if it weren’t for the fact that this appeared to be a hostage situation they needed to tread with care, he would’ve knock the shit out of that other vampire.

 

At that moment, Mint unleashed an explosion of light that knocked the enemy vampire backwards, and Dhaos ran in to attack said vampire, whilst Cless went to grab the wounded elf, who took the moment to faint right after. _Thank god I have all this strength or he’d literally be dead weight_!

 

 

The scent of the elf's blood stops every train of thought after that, however, and Cless suddenly remembers that his chest still aches, he's still in pain, can't heal himself, or can't rely on a human _cleric_ for assistance. But he could always...

 

 

"... Cless, I hope you're not about to do what I think you're thinking of doing."

 

 

This snaps Cless out of his reverie and he turns his head to look at Mint, who is frowning at him. He shakes his head. "U-uh, no..."

 

 

"Ah... and I wish I had known you were a vampire from the beginning..."

 

 

The hidden undead emerged from the walls to start their assault in the meanwhile. The blond-haired woman easily turned to dust some of the undead with a whacking or two from her holy staff, and then a rain of holy water to put to rest most of them. Cless blasted back a few of them with black lightning.

 

Then, Cless’ free hand goes straight to his sword’s sheath when footsteps approach him. He looks and spots that oh, it’s just that red head from earlier, so he relaxes. Mint shouts, “Cless, please don’t let your guard down!”

 

Cless shook his head, saying, “It’s fine, he’s a good guy!”

 

The young blond found himself through a wall practically, coughing a bit and blinking blearily. “Or at least I thought he was...”

 

The red-haired vampire hunter was hit into the wall next to him in the next moment, and Mint sighed, looking over as the guy was knocked out, eyes dazed. Mint shook her head before she headed over to Cless. “Are you alright?”

 

Dhaos in the meanwhile found himself battling against a joke, or what he thought was in his opinion. It could simply be that he was too skilled for even this vampire, and easily gave the vampire a stinging right hook that made the vampire skipt across the marbled floor, before crashing into a plaque that read Yggdrasil. He said, “It’s the end for you, vampire. Perhaps you should have thought twice before attempting to subjugate humans under your thumb.”

 

“I won’t lose to you, I can’t!”

 

Dhaos scoffed as he came at him, preparing for this to be the last strike, when the vampire shouted, “Look at me! You haven’t even so much as looked at my face this entire battle, you arrogant swine!”

 

Dhaos couldn’t help but say, “Because I know better, you scum. Once I look into your eyes, you’ll unleash some binding fell magic on me. Do not take me for an idiot.”

 

The blond-haired vampire hunter brought down his fist, and the vampire below him smirked as he moved out of the way, grabbing one of his arms, before breaking it with an audible snap. Dhaos was pretty sure he screamed, but he didn’t quite hear it, or at least he didn’t think he did in the moment of complete and utter pain. Then, the vampire forced him to look at him, with his hand grabbing the blond’s chin.

 

The vampire leaned in, saying, “Now you’ll become my servant. Obey me!”

 

What he wasn’t expecting was a punch in the face, likely enough, sending him sprawling once again to the ground. Dhaos scowled, saying, “As if I would ever.”

 

The vampire was about to attack, except a sword soared through the air, almost piercing him through the head.

 

Mint and Cless at this point were coming over from their battles having concluded, magic spells on hand, and their enemy knew if he was hit just one more time, then it’d be over for him, so he teleported out of there. Mint began to cast a healing art on the tall male while Cless fussed over him, making Dhaos sigh, and say, “... I’ll be fine.”

 

Mint said, “So... you are willingly working with a vampire?”

 

Dhaos nodded, replying, “I...will admit that it can be seen as odd or something else, however, as it is I have no regrets.”

 

Cless made sure to pick up the fallen elf, which Mint had made sure to heal as well, and approached the red-haired male, poking at him. He stirred and rubbed his face, asking, “What happened?”

 

The blond smiled sheepishly, saying, “I think you were playing on the wrong side for a bit, but everything will be okay.”

 

A few weeks transpire, and Dhaos insists on them staying until the vampire is completely taken care of, but Cless believes that the man likes the place as well. He’s standing outside on the balcony, when he notices Chester leap up onto the railing and say, “Y’know, I finished the guy for you all, did anyone notice or...?”

 

Cless squinted and replied, “You could’ve said something like that earlier, you know.”

 

“I’m guessing that’s a no.”

 

The blond-haired vampire then crossed his arms and said, “I realized that what that guy said was kind of bullshit, though.”

Chester crossed his arms. “About what, exactly?”

 

“The whole thing about I’d succumb to hunger... it’s never been that hard for me to resist.”

 

The blue-haired man smirked and asked, “Is it because you’re waiting for a chance to get a sip of Dhaos’?”

 

Cless rolled his eyes and nudged Chester, hard, who then asked, “Say, what are you going to do when Dhaos passes?”

 

“... Huh?”

 

Chester frowned and looked at him and reiterated, “I said, what are you going to do when your partner dies?”

 

Cless put his hands behind his head. “I’ve been thinking about it a little, since I’m turning eighteen soon...”

 

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

 

Soon Cless was squeezing and pulling Chester’s cheeks, who flailed a bit, as Cless continued, “Anyway, like I said, I have been thinking about it a little and well, I’ll ask him. I’ve heard some tales that elves live longer and they know a secret to a longer life, but it’s really up to him. If he wants to live a normal life-span that’s up to him and turning him is out of the question. I won’t do it.”

 

Just then, Dhaos just happened to walk in quietly, seeing in front of him what appeared to be Cless holding his puppy. The blond raised an eyebrow and said, “If you can communicate with animals, that would be fine as well, as you can inform that mutt of yours he is not allowed in the livingroom again. Ever.”

 

Cless grinned sheepishly, “It wasn’t that bad.”

 

For about a half hour or so, Dhaos begun to list every reason why it was, yes, ‘that bad’. Cless probably figured the blond stopped when he noticed that he was staring at him with a dreamy smile.

 

Dhaos sighed and asked, “A gald for your thoughts, Cless?”

 

“I was thinking... about how much I cherish you.”

 

The blond-haired vampire hunter blushed. “... I see.”

 

An awkward pause hung between them.

 

“... I cherish you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you can guess what kind of vampire Cless is, you get a cookie.


End file.
